After 5 weeks of summer off from the big races, the team has had a mix of experiences with training, travel, recovery and kermesse racing in Belgium.
A long season, starting way back in January can take it’s toll, so we have worked hard with the team to try and maintain health, motivation and performance. In the early seaons we focused on nutrition, rest and training load. Into Belgium it was all about maintaining form and not digging a performance hole and now its all about a second little peak before off-season.
Things have truned out differently for everyone on the team. Quinn and Hannah called the season-finish early, after riding big volumes and needing longer time to recover. Mia, Amelie, Inez, Georgia and Kirsty enjoyed some travel and time off from the bike while training with a focus on ‘base-miles’. Ava had a bit of a training camp with her coach in Andorra. And Alyssa won two gold medals on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
So back to racing with Egmont 1.1 in Zotegem, Belgium. Generally recognised as one of the toughest 1.1 races on the calendar the squad was excited to get Alyssa back on the road and to set up for the last 5 weeks of the season.
Things didn’t go to plan for the team, after an early positive start. A crash about 45km in left Amelie and Alyssa in the ditch and Ava on the road with a dropped chain. Amelie went off to hospital for work on her leg, Alyssa didn’t re-start and Ava chased for 25 kms before stepping off. This left Mia to fight solo. She worked hard and got caught behind another crash at 35km to go, just missing the decisive splits up the subsequent climbs. She finished strongly as the only Meridian Blue rider at the end of the race in P59 with plenty of World Tour riders in that second group on the road, at 4’35” behind Elisa Balsamo.
Unfortunately the crash will be the end of the European campaign for Amelie, as she recovers for next season. Next up is Kovert Koerse in Belgium then two weekends in France.
